Romans 9:19-29 God's Justice

"We know that God by nature is perfectly just.  It is unthinkable that God would will an unjust purpose or perform an unjust act.  But at times it seems He does just that ... Paul gives three answers why it seems that way:

1)  Who are we to argue with God?  -  "God is wiser than we are, and we are foolish to question His will or to resist it ... It is God who determines whether a man will be a Moses or a Pharaoh.  Neither Moses, nor Pharaoh, nor anyone else, could choose his parents, his genetic structure, or his time and place of birth.  We have to believe that these matters are in the hands of God.  However, this does not excuse us from responsibility," my commentary began.

2)  God has His purposes  -  "We must never think that God enjoyed watching a tyrant like Pharaoh.  He endured it ... God prepares men for glory, but sinners prepare themselves for judgment.  In Moses and Israel, God revealed His power and wrath.  Since neither deserve ANY mercy, God cannot be charge with injustice."

3)  All of this was prophesied  -  "Paul quoted Hosea 2:23, a statement declaring that God would turn from the Jews and call the Gentiles.  Then he cited Hosea 1:10 to prove that this new people being called would be God's people and children of the living God.  He then quoted Isaiah 10:22-23 to show that only a remnant of Israel would be saved, while the greater part of the nation would suffer judgment ... Now what does all this prove?  That God was not unjust in saving some and judging others, because He was only fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies given centuries ago.  He would be unjust if He did not keep His own Word.  But even more than that, these prophecies show that God's election has made possible the salvation of the Gentiles.  This is the grace of God."

Father, God, when I don't understand, I'm thankful that years ago You taught me to trust Your heart, Your goodness, Your wisdom, and Your love.  Our minds are not like Yours, so this side of heaven we often face doubts.  When I can't see Your hand, help me trust Your heart.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 9:14-18 God's Righteousness

Our human minds have trouble grasping the fact that God can choose someone over someone else and still be righteous.  Yet we can in no way ever accuse God of being unrighteous.  If He was, then He wouldn't be God.  His method of choosing is wholly a matter of grace.

"If God acted only on the basis of righteousness, nobody would ever be saved ... All of us deserve condemnation, not mercy," my commentary said.

Paul also looks at Moses versus Pharaoh.  "Moses was a Jew; Pharaoh was a Gentile, yet both were sinners.  In fact, both were murderers!  Both saw God's wonders.  Yet Moses was saved and Pharaoh was lost.  God raised up Pharaoh that He might reveal His glory and power, and He had mercy on Moses that He might use him to deliver the people of Israel ... God willed it that way ... It was not a matter of righteousness but of the sovereign will of God."

"God is holy and must punish sin, but God is loving and desires to save sinners.  If everybody is saved, it would deny His holiness, but if everybody is lost, it would deny His love.  The solution to the problem is God's sovereign election ... Nobody can condemn God for the way He extends His mercy because God is righteous."

"By declaring His Word and revealing His power, God gave Pharaoh opportunity to repent, but instead, Pharaoh resisted God and hardened his heart.  The fault lay not with God but Pharaoh.  The same sunlight that melts the ice also hardens the clay.  God was not unrighteous in His dealings with Pharaoh because He gave him many opportunities to repent and believe."

Father, help me never to doubt Your love for me and Your righteousness.  Lead me to know that Your decisions are always right and perfect and to understand how little my human mind can grasp of Your workings.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Romans 9:1-13 God's Faithfulness

Paul uses Jewish history to show us a necessary part of his argument for justification by faith.  In the last chapter, he'd argued that "the believer is secure in Jesus Christ and that God's election would stand."  Some might see the failure of the Jews to recognize the Messiah and ask if God had failed to keep His promises to Israel.  That would put the very character of God at stake.  Now Paul is going to address God's faithfulness, righteousness, justice, and grace.  These verses describe His faithfulness.

"Does Israel's failure mean that God's Word has failed?  The answer is, 'No!  God is faithful no matter what men may do with His Word.'  Paul explains the basis for Israel's election.  It was not of natural descent ... Abraham had two sons ... But it was Isaac, the younger of the two, whom God chose.  Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  As the firstborn, Esau should have been chosen, but it was Jacob that God chose ... God did not base His election on the physical.  Therefore, if the nation of Israel -- Abraham's physical descendants -- has rejected God's Word, this does not nullify God's elective purposes at all."

"It is not of human merit.  God chose Jacob before the babies were born.  The twin boys had done neither good nor evil, so God's choice was not based on their character or conduct ... God does not hate sinners.  John 3:16 makes it clear that He loves sinners.  The statement here has to do with national election, not individual.  Since God's election of Israel does not depend on human merit, their disobedience cannot nullify the elective purposes of God.  God is faithful even though His people are unfaithful."

Father God, thank You for choosing me.  Thank You for Your faithfulness to me despite my own disobedience.  Help me to be faithful to You and keep me in Your will.  Remind me often that I am Yours!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 8:22-39 And Another Thing...

"Freedom from Fear - No Separation" is what my commentary entitled this part.  We don't ever have to be afraid of getting separated from God eternally for our sin, because there is no condemnation since we share the righteousness of God, Paul tells us.  "We do not need to fear the past, present, or future because we are secure in the love of Christ."

"The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all for us.  God is making all things work for us ... Sometimes, like Jacob, we lament, 'All these things are against me,' when actually everything is working for us.  The believer needs to enter each new day realizing that God is for him ... Christ died for us ... God has justified us ... and Christ loves us ... Nothing can separate us from His love!"

"God does not shelter us from the difficulties of life because we need them for our spiritual growth.  In Romans 8:28, God assures us that the difficulties of life are only for us and not against us.  God permits trials to come that we might use them for our good and His glory.  We endure trials for his sake, and since we do, do you think He will desert us?  Of course not.  Instead, He is closer to us when we go through the difficulties of life."

Father, thank You for Your reassurances this morning.  Lead me to never let go of these truths for the rest of my life!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 8:18-21 (one more time) The Groans

"Freedom from Discouragement -- No Frustration" is what my commentary titled this section, and we are told to note the three groans that are discussed.

Creation groans -- "When God finished His creation, it was a good creation, but today it is a groaning creation ... the result of Adam's sin ... not the fault of creation ... However, this groaning is not a useless thing ... One day creation will be delivered and the groaning creation will become a glorious creation.  The believer does not focus on today's sufferings ... he looks forward to tomorrow's glory."

We believers groan -- "...because we have experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit, a foretaste of the glory to come ... we  Christians have tasted the blessings of heaven through the ministry of the Spirit.  This makes us want to see the Lord, receive a new body, and live with Him and serve Him forever.  We are waiting for the adoption, which is the redemption of the body when Christ returns.  This is the thrilling climax to the adoption that took place at conversion when the Spirit of adoption gave us an adult standing in God's family.  When Christ returns, we shall enter into our full inheritance.  Meanwhile, we wait and hope.  The best is yet to come!  The believer does not get frustrated as he sees and experiences suffering and pain in this world.  He knows that the temporary suffering will one day give way to eternal glory."

The Holy Spirit groans -- "Jesus groaned when He saw what sin was doing to mankind.  Today, the Holy Spirit groans with us and feels the burdens of our weaknesses and suffering.  But the Spirit does more than groan.  He prays for us in His groaning so that we might be led into the will of God.  We do not always know God's will.  We do not always know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes so that we might live in the will of God in spite of suffering.  The Spirit shares the burden."

"God is at work in the world... He has a perfect plan ... with two purposes -- our good and His glory.  Ultimately, He will make us like Jesus Christ."  The plan is going to succeed!

Father, thank You for this reassurance.  Thank You that the Holy Spirit feels the burden of my weaknesses and prays for me to You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 8:18-21 Camping Out On These Verses Again

Such perfect timing, Father:

"The sufferings we have now ..."     (Man, that describes yesterday)

"... are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us.  Everything God made..."     (us, rocks, trees, animals)

"... is waiting with excitement for God to show ..."     (anything He shows us should make us as excited as a kid waking up on Christmas morning!)

"... His children's glory completely ..."  (My glory!?  All creation is excited to see that!?)

"...Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it ..."     (in order to reveal to us the great depths of our sinfulness)

"... and because all along there was this hope ...     (that's what I need to hear, Father -- that there is hope)

"... that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belongs to God's children."     (creation will be restored and with that incredible move we will see the earth as God first created it, with rocks crying out to Him and mountains dancing, only now the glory God places on us will add to the cause for celebration!)

Father, I needed this.  I need to camp out another day on these verses.  Thank You for Your incredible wisdom and Your love for me, despite my sinfulness!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 8:18-21 Just What I Needed Today!

Wow!  I needed to hear this, Father!

In the margin of my Bible, I'd written something I'd read about these verses:

1)  God is still in control.

2)  The best is yet to come.

3)  The victory is secure, so it doesn't matter what's happening around us.

4)  We and God are inseparable.

I don't have time to write this morning, but wanted to note this.  I can't wait for tomorrow so I can flesh these verses out more!  Thanks, Father!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 8:1-17 The Christian's Declaration of Freedom

My commentary said this chapter is "the Christian's Declaration of Freedom where Paul declares the four spiritual freedoms we enjoy because of our union with Jesus Christ."  Two of them appear in these verses.

Freedom from Judgment -- No condemnation:  "Romans 8:1 does not say no mistakes or no failures or even no sins.  Christians do fail and make mistakes, and they do sin....they suffer consequences because of their sins, but they do not suffer condemnation ... The law cannot claim you.  You have been made free from the law of sin and death.  You now have life in the Spirit ... The law cannot condemn you.... Because Christ has already suffered that condemnation for you on the cross ... Since Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins and since you are in Christ, God will not condemn you ... The law cannot control you ... the law does not have the power to produce holiness; it can only reveal and condemn sin.  But the indwelling Holy Spirit enables you to walk in obedience to God's will."

Freedom from Defeat -- No obligation:  "There is no obligation to the old nature.  The believer can live in victory ... Paul describes life on three different levels, and encourages us to live on the highest level.  1)  Those who have not the Spirit.  He is contrasting the saved and the unsaved -- In the flesh vs In the Spirit, Death vs life, War with God vs peace with God, Pleasing self vs pleasing God."  2)  Those who have the Spirit.  The evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit within, witnessing that you are a child of God.  Your body becomes the very temple of the Holy Spirit... What a difference it makes in your body when the Holy Spirit lives within.  You experience new life, and even your physical faculties take on a new dimension of experience.  3) Those who the Spirit HAS:  It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us!  Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ ... Because H is the Spirit of life, He can empower us to obey Christ, and He can enable us to be more like Christ.  But He is also the Spirit of death.  He can enable us to put to death the sinful deeds of the body ... He is also the Spirit of adoption, which in the New Testament means being placed as an adult son."

"There is no need for the believer to be defeated.  He can yield his body to the Spirit and by faith overcome the old nature.  The Spirit of life will empower him.  The Spirit of death will enable him to overcome the flesh.  And the Spirit of adoption will enrich him and lead him into the will of God."

Father, please continue to empower me to live according to Your will.  Help me to overcome the flesh, and remind me daily that I am Your adult son whom You adopted because of my older brother Jesus Christ and what He did for me.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 7:14-25 What We Can't Do Ourselves

Paul now shows us the inability of the Law -- what it cannot do.

It can't change us:  "The law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is.  The believer who tries to live under law will only activate the old nature; he will not eradicate it," my commentary said.

It can't enable us to do good:  "The believer's mind, will, and body can be controlled either by the old nature or the new nature, either by the flesh or the Spirit ... The believer has two serious problems:  he cannot do the good he wants to do, and he does the evil that he does not want to do ... Paul was saying that of himself he could not obey God's law, and that even when he did, evil was still present with him.  No matter what he did, his deeds were tainted by sin."

It can't set us free:  "The believer has an old nature that wants to keep him in bondage ... Often we try to overcome our old nature with the law, and the law cannot deliver us from the old nature.  When we move under the law, we are only making the old nature stronger ... Instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption."

"The flesh will never serve the law of God because the flesh is at war with God.  But the Spirit can only obey the law of God.  Therefore, the secret of doing good is to yield to the Holy Spirit."

Father, on my own, I am nothing and I can do nothing good.  I need Your Holy Spirit to direct and guide me.  Keep Him close to me, Father, and cause me to trust and listen.

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 7:1-13 Not a Mistake or Weakness, But Sin

Here, Paul answers those who would ask, "Since we're not under the law, then it's okay to sin, right?"

He uses an example of a married couple where the husband dies.  The law of Moses permitted the wife to remarry in that case.  She couldn't do it otherwise.  "Death broke the marriage relationship and set her free [from that provision of the law]."

In the same way, we died to the law when we trusted Christ and were united with Him.  We died to the law, just as we died to the flesh ... In Christ, we arose from the dead and now are married (united) to Christ to live a new kind of life," my commentary continued.

"To be dead to the law does not mean that we lead lawless lives.  It simply means that the motivation  and dynamic of our lives does not come from the law; it comes from God's grace through our union with Christ."

He also discusses the ministry of the law.  It reveals sin.  But it also arouses sin," the way a magnet draws steel," my commentary said.  "Something in human nature wants to rebel whenever a law is given ... Believers who try to live by rules and regulations discover that their legalistic system only arouses more sin and creates more problems."

The law also kills - "It cannot give life:  it can only show the sinner that he is guilty and condemned... The law shows the sinfulness of sin ... We excuse our sins with words like mistakes or weaknesses, but God condemns our sins and tries to get us to see that they are exceedingly sinful."

"Paul's argument here is tremendous:  The law is not sinful -- it is holy, just, and good; but the law reveals sin, arouses sin, and then uses sin to slay us ... See how sinful sin is when it can use something good like the law to produce such tragic results ... The problem is with our sinful nature."

Father, thank You again for reminding me of the terrible sinfulness of any sin I commit.  Don't let me minimize it by using words like mistake or weakness.  It is an affront to You.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 6: 12-23 Know, Reckon, Then Yield

Paul had said he was giving us three instructions.  In the first half of the chapter, they were:  Know that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin; and reckon this fact to be true in your own life.  Now he finishes with, "Yield your body to the Lord to be used for His glory."

"He asks all of us to live for Him, sacrificing our bodies in holy living ... How are we to yield?  As an act of the will based on the knowledge we have of what Christ has done for us.  It's an intelligent act, not an impulsive decision of the moment."  My commentary said to carefully notice the tenses of the verbs:  "Do not constantly allow sin to reign in your mortal body so that you are constantly obeying its lusts.  Neither constantly yield your members of your body as weapons or tools of unrighteousness to sin; but once and for all yield yourselves to God.  There must be in the believer's life that final and complete surrender of the BODY to Jesus Christ.  This does not mean there will be no further steps of surrender, because there will be .... To be sure, we daily surrender afresh to Him, but even that is based on a final and complete surrender.  

"Why does God want your body?  To begin with, the believer's body is God's temple, and He wants to use it for His glory.  But Paul wrote that the body is also God's tool and God's weapon in verse 13.  God wants to use the members of the body as tools for building His kingdom and weapons for fighting His enemies."

"Why are we to yield?  Favor, freedom, and fruit.  Favor because of God's grace, which gives us a reason to obey.  Freedom?  Whatever you yield to becomes your master.  Before you were saved, so were the slave of sin.  Now that you belong to Christ, you are freed from that old slavery and made a servant of Christ.  Fruit?  In the old life we produced fruit that made us ashamed.  In the new life in Christ, we produce fruit that glorifies God and brings joy to our lives."

"Now that you know these truths, reckon them to be true in your life, and then yield yourself to God."

Father, I needed this refresher.  Thank You for stating it so clearly for me.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Romans 6:1-11 The Reckoning

"Paul anticipated three objections to what he'd written in chapter 5."  The objectors would go to extremes ranging from, "If God's grace abounds when we sin, then let's continue sinning so we might experience more grace!" to "If we are no longer under the law, then we are free to live as we please!" to "You have made God's law sinful!"

"When Paul defended justification, he also explained sanctification ... He explained the relationship to the flesh, the law, and the Holy Spirit, and gave three instructions for attaining victory over sin," my commentary explained.

The first was know:  "Christian living depends on Christian learning ... If Satan can keep a Christian ignorant, he can keep him impotent ... At Romans 5:12, Paul made a transition from discussing 'sins' to discussing 'sin' -- from the actions to the principle, from the fruit to the root ... Justification is not simply a legal matter between me and God; it is a living relationship ... Because of the living union with Christ, the believer has a totally new relationship to sin:  He is dead to sin and he should not serve sin."

"Paul uses the word reckon 41 times in the New Testament and 19 times in Romans alone."  It's not the "I suppose...." we're used to in Texas, but rather it means to "take into account" or "to calculate or estimate", but maybe the best is "to put to one's account," my commentary said.  "It simply means to believe that what God says in His Word is really true in your life.  Paul didn't tell his readers to feel as if they were dead to sin, or ever to understand it fully, but to act on God's Word and claim it for themselves.  Reckoning is a matter of faith that issues in action.  It's like endorsing a check:  if we really believe that the money is in the checking account, we will sign our name and collect the money.  Reckoning is not claiming a promise, but acting on a fact."

Father, help me to fully understand and accept that Your promises are indeed facts in my life!

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford